Posted on 02/10/2020 4:00:25 PM PST by Kaslin
Recent news reports showed that veteran suicide rates are still high. “Firearms were also singled out by researchers” for being used in nearly 70 percent of veteran suicides, while they are used in less than half of non-veteran suicides. The disparity is obvious, but unexplainable. However, a spending bill to research the root causes behind veteran suicides may help us find answers and save lives.
Recently, Congress passed a landmark bill that will allocate $25 million in research funds to study veteran suicides and other forms of gun violence, lifting an unusual ban that prevented the federal government from researching firearm-related deaths.
It was a major bipartisan effort to get two parties that can’t seem to agree on anything to align on mass violence and suicide research focused on our veterans and protecting the general public. The spending bill couldn’t have passed without support from key Republican Senators like Johnny Isakson and a bipartisan assembly of lawmakers who were advocates of the bill. It was an uphill, David vs. Goliath struggle against special interest groups that spent big money to prevent the legislation from passing Congress.
For Isakson, this was his final battle, but one that was certainly worth fighting in. Georgia’s long-time senator, known for his strong Second Amendment voting record, bipartisanship, and out-of-box solutions, was retiring at the end of 2019 due to health reasons. But health troubles didn’t stop him from fighting for the veteran community, which lost 60,000 veterans in a span of a decade—and a majority of those deaths involved firearms.
With reports that veteran suicides were on the rise, Isakson knew Congress had to act quickly, or America would continue to lose veterans at an alarming rate. Isakson said legislation for mass violence and gun related suicide research “aims to get to the root of the problem: what is causing the outbreak of mass violence,” adding that, “the way you stop a disease is you diagnose them and find out what causes them.” In other words, this funding is vital for garnering data-driven research that will get to the root cause of issues like veteran suicides by firearm.
The latest spending bill helps us find the necessary answers to the questions surrounding the high veteran suicide rate, but the battle still isn’t over. The $25 million that Congress approved is a big victory, but more needs to be done to ensure that long-term research can be done into this troubling epidemic that is harming our veterans. We can’t find answers overnight.
Fortunately, many leaders in Congress, including Isakson’s own successor, newly sworn-in Senator Kelly Loeffler, can help take the torch and lead the fight on this issue. Loeffler has been a proven champion of veterans, saying that she wants to make “sure that Georgia remains one of the best places to be a veteran in America.” And, as a former business titan, she has the negotiation skills to reach bipartisan deals on long-term funding for research.
The first round of research funds that Congress passed last year was significant and a crucial success, so lawmakers should be applauded for achieving a major legislative victory. But we have more work to get done to make up for lost ground.
What would that be? Chuck them out of windows?
(That means defenestration)
“Firearms were also singled out by researchers” for being used in nearly 70 percent of veteran suicides, while they are used in less than half of non-veteran suicides. The disparity is obvious, but unexplainable”
Yeah, that’s a real brain teaser
That’s almost as mysterious as high drug addiction rates among doctors
$25 million down the drain.
When someone is serious about suicide, they’ll go with the most opportune means. Pills, slit their wrists, drive into a tree, gas oven, etc.
How about we quit tossing our best people into foreign ****holes on foolish nation building exercises with their frigging hands tied behind their backs.
Why don’t we try that?
L
We need mental health services. Not gun control. Thge veterans have seen some awful things. They know that in order to end it, a bullet through the head is the quickest most painless way. It’s not access to guns, it’s appreciation for a quick death via gun.
Pork. Using Vets as cover.
Exactly
It’s a Trojan horse. They’ll use the subjectively done research and reports to violate the Second Amendment, especially against veterans.
A lot of this is bullshit. I know it’s a shock, but veterans are actually just people with regular people problems. Now anytime a veteran commits suicide, it’s some kind of “Veteran” issue. He could have served in the Air Force in 1962, never left the conus, but if he commits suicide in 2019, he’s a suicidal veteran.
The only time the left, or really any of the government likes veterans, is when they can portray them as victims
It’s not what veterans see overseas. Most of them don’t see what the media and medical racket would have you believe. Only a very small percentage of them are really combat specialists. It’s more about how veterans are treated here, in the States.
“For Isakson, this was his final battle, but one that was certainly worth fighting in. Georgia’s long-time senator, known for his strong Second Amendment voting record, bipartisanship, and out-of-box solutions, was retiring at the end of 2019 due to health reasons. But health troubles didn’t stop him from fighting for the veteran community,”
It’s probably just a coincidence that the CDC is it in his area, and they really want money for gun research
The best way to reduce veteran suicide numbers is to get rid of no-fault divorce laws, reform domestic violence laws to be more fair, and reform child custody to be more fair.
Veterans who have decided on suicide use a tool they are familiar with that can effectively get the job done.
Focus on the tool and the money is wasted. The firearm didn’t cause the event - it was the tool chosen to insure success.
Have they setup a task force to study Gravity?
Yeah.
No.
Most men who commit suicide don’t want anyone to know they can’t make life work. They plan it long in advance and when it happens it looks like an accident.
They were driving a teeny bit too fast at night in the rain.
The scaffolding had a rotten board.
The boat overturned.
The slipped while reshingling the house.
Nobody knows the exact number and type of death for all male suicides because a large percentage of male suicides are never identified as suicides.
Who wrote this drivel? The same idiots who sponsered the bill?
Bookmark
for a suicidal person, a gun is a convenient means to accomplish the task. Taking away the gun doesn't take away the suicidal thoughts, so the task is accomplished by other means, such as pills, carbon monoxide, or wrist slitting.
Japan has for all intents and purposes no private gun ownership, but has a higher suicide rate than the U.S., proving that firearms do not cause suicide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.